Officials say time is now for alternative middle school in Fall River

School officials say the time has come for a new alternative middle school program in the district. Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown told the School Committee at its Tuesday meeting that the district had come up with a list of 50 students who are likely in need of a program that is in its own building, se...

School officials say the time has come for a new alternative middle school program in the district.

Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown told the School Committee at its Tuesday meeting that the district had come up with a list of 50 students who are likely in need of a program that is in its own building, separate from the middle schools.

That program would be similar to the Resiliency Preparatory School, which serves high school students. RPS is currently housed at 290 Rock St., the former location of Morton and Matthew Kuss middle schools.

When reached Thursday evening, Mayo-Brown said she and other school officials saw that the district has a small population of middle school students whose needs are not being met by the schools and intervention programs already in place. They pondered whether there is “a group that just needs an alternative setting.”

“We know the profile of the student,” Mayo-Brown said. “They are academically behind and at a high risk of dropping out.”

Those students also may have “an inability to connect” with their peers and teachers, trouble focusing in the classroom and, in some case, may “have issues with authority.”

Moreover, there is a small number of middle school students who are “overage and under-credit,” including some 15-year-old students and at least one 16-year-old, Mayo-Brown said.

“That makes no sense for the schools, and it makes no sense for the students,” she said.

But pushing that student through middle school and high school would also be a disservice.

Exactly how this new middle school program would look is still shaping up. The concept has been in development, and the goal is to launch it by January. Mayo-Brown explained that each middle school building currently has an alternative classroom. And a therapeutic program for special education has long been established in the Stone Day School.

“We need to be creative,” Mayo-Brown said. “What we are seeing is an increase in a need for a therapeutic program. We have a number of students who are considered traumatized. And that simply means kids are coming to school traumatized for a variety of reasons.”

The objective is to help those students eventually return to the regular student population, Mayo-Brown said.

“We want to support students so they can be in the least restrictive environment possible,” she said.

Mayo-Brown said the district has the resources to temporarily lease a space, and also hire a staff for the program. That staff would likely include a small group of teachers who have both education and behavior credentials, behavior specialists and school adjustment counselors. Mayo-Brown said the district and the school committee so far have acted with “a sense of urgency.” On Tuesday, the committee gave its unanimous support for the program.

The school district does need to secure the space. All indications so far point to the third floor of the Cherry & Webb building at 139 S. Main St. It is available, and the district has already contacted the building’s owner, the Fall River Office of Economic Development.

FROED Vice President Kenneth Fiola confirmed that he had received an inquiry from Mayo-Brown on the subject. He said the cost to lease the space would likely be less than the $8,000 to $10,000 per month the district previously paid from last February to June to temporarily house its 200 RPS students. That is because the new program is expected to be smaller and will likely require fewer parking spaces.

The district would lease the facility from January until June, After that, the program would move to 290 Rock St.

That would allow the district time to establish a permanent home for the program. If it’s going to be permanently located at 290 Rock St., measures would need to be taken to keep the program separate from RPS. For example, it would need a separate entrance from RPS, and school day start times would have to be staggered.

The district previously had a program called the Fall River Alternative Program. It was housed at the former Wiley School. But, Mayo-Brown said, “It wasn’t a successful model at the time.”

Mayor William Flanagan echoed Mayo-Brown’s desire to get the program going.

“I heard from parents, teachers, all the way up the line to the superintendent. We have to support students who are having behavioral issues or who are unable to focus while inside of the classroom,” Flanagan said. “The Resiliency Preparatory School has been very successful, in taking children who are either in the Criminal Justice System, or unable to focus in school, to get them resources they need and get them a quality education.”

Flanagan added that he felt the issue of students having behavioral and emotional needs has been an ongoing one.

“As of now, it is an exploratory program,” Flanagan said. “But I can foresee this becoming a permanent program.”

School Committee Vice Chairman Mark Costa said via email on Friday that he’s long been advocating for an alternative middle school program.

“There is a clear need to address disruptive behavior in our middle schools,” Costa said. “Students deserve a safe environment to learn, and teachers deserve a classroom where they are allowed to teach without unneeded distraction. I am pleased to have been able to work with the administration to make it happen.”